In celebration of the city of St. Louis's 250th birthday this year (2014), there was a special cake. Times that by 250, that is!
Called 'Cakeway to the West', 250+ cakes have been placed all over the St. Louis area, including the Metro East. Places that have cakes include historical landmarks, parks, museums, popular restaurants, as well as government places. These are just a few examples as the places represented St. Louis in a memorable way.
First, what is Carondelet? How do you pronounce it? Or what was it? I was having a conversation with someone the other day about it, and for many years I thought Carondelet was pronounced 'Karen delay'. Turns out there is NO right way of saying some of these French places in St. Louis. Carondelet is mostly pronounced Kuh-ron-duh-let.
Carondelet started out as a settlement in 1767 by French settler Clement Delor de Treget. Just remember, this was 3 years after the founding of St. Louis and this was before the signing of the Declaration of Independence and the Louisiana Purchase. But what this current St. Louis neighborhood takes pride in is this school. If you've been to the St. Louis Walk of Fame then you've probably seen Susan Blow's name. This is where her influence comes in.
Side of the building
The front of the Des Peres school, or the Carondelet Historic Center
A closer look at the sign
The Carondelet Historical Society was founded in 1967, pretty much for the obvious reasons....to preserve the heritage. It made perfect sense to do it at the home of the first publicly funded kindergarten of the United States - at Des Peres School. Susan Blow was and still is known as the 'mother of kindergarten'. However, she was not the first to think of such idea and coin the word, as that distinction belongs to Friedrich Frobel, who came up with the theory that children, while their minds are creative and developing at an early age, should start school earlier than we think. Public schools started springing up in the late 19th century. And in this building was the first public kindergarten in the U.S.
The building closed as a school during the Depression-era. It is currently in the process of restoration, going back to its 1870s style.
Right side of the cake
Back side of the cake
Left side of the cake
April Morrison has put out some great cakes, but this one's definitely gotta take the cake! Pun intended, of course. First, I really dig the Letter People on the bottom. That really takes me back to my childhood. In fact, my age decade (30-somethings) are the last to enjoy such fun, cool retro programming. Also, what's very little known is that the Letter People was actually filmed at KETC Channel 9 studios back in the 1970s. I remember doing a one-day externship at the station, shadowing their personality Patrick Murphy (you've heard his voice a lot if you watch Ch. 9) and I asked him about the Letter People. I can recall him cracking up and saying that the two guys that created the show would hang out at the station all-day and night. He even said they were absolute hippies as well.
On top of the cake is a 3-sided look at the history of Carondelet as well as the school. Very unique!
In my lifetime I had only been to the St. Louis Arena twice. When I was 4 (1986), my family went to see Sesame Street Live, since my parents thought maybe I'd enjoy it. Unfortunately I have no memories of it. According to my mom years later, I wasn't showing interest as I was looking around the whole time. It wasn't until the fall of '93 a woman named Lorraine who taught Sunday school at my church took me to see the circus. Now, THAT I have memories of! On a side note, I remember we packed a picnic lunch (as long as it was in plastic!) before we went there. Remember, those were the days before 9/11 when all those places like Busch Stadium and the Arena would let you do that. I even recall Lorraine telling our seatmates 'Always take your OWN food when you go to these events. The prices are just too ridiculous'.
I enjoy hearing stories about concerts from the past from my older peers. Even though I'm glad I'm not older than I am, I sure wish I could have got to experience some of the greatest performances at the Arena in St. Louis. Who knows, maybe there's something on YouTube.
Here are some highlights of what I heard:
-On the night the Cardinals won the 1982 World Series, Mike, my station manager at the radio station I work at, attended a Rush concert at the Arena. Lead vocalist Geddy Lee, who is noted to be a huge baseball fan, was wearing a Cardinals cap and he addressed the crowd: 'I see something great happening to your team tonight'. And indeed the Cardinals won their 9th World Series championship!
-Every now and then I read some of the comments on Favazz (of KSHE 95)'s Facebook page about concert memories. Somebody wanted Favazz to ask Sammy Hagar (who really loves St. Louis) about the red car he brought out during a performance at the Arena back in the 80s. I listened to the interview later and Sammy didn't remember what they were talking about!
-Two years ago I saw Van Halen at the Scottrade Center. Van Halen, a band that is famous for changing lead singers, had been to St. Louis several times. David Lee Roth was the lead singer that night and he and the rest of the band did fine, playing all their old hits. I arrived at the show an hour early as it was filling up, and one of the ladies that worked at Scottrade Center approached me and asked if I wanted to move closer to the stage for no extra charge. Of course, I accepted! She told me that not a lot of tickets sold and they were trying to fill the closer seats. I later told Darrell, one of my friends (who's in his 40s), about the whole thing and he said: "Dude, that is sad. This was a band that once sold out two shows at the Arena in two hours back in '84".
I remember reading someplace that Frank Sinatra made his final concert appearance at the Arena (1991? 93?) and he signed off saying, 'I will see you again soon. I promise!'
Today, the former site consists of luxury apartment buildings.
The courtyard from the cake
One of the apartment buildings where the Arena once sat
The Mid America Transplant Foundation memorial
Here is the fountain next to the cake. According to Cakeway to the West Facebook group member Nancey Blackburn, she heard the cake was placed where the center ice was.
Left side of the cake which focuses on one of its former names, the Checkerdome as well as some of the teams the place hosted
A full view of the top of the cake. I won't lie; I really dug this! Can you name any of the bands on the stubs? I see Aerosmith, Rolling Stones, Rush....
Right side of the cake which, like the left, touches upon the sports team it hosted
John Goodman often eats here whenever he's in town.
Jon Hamm showed America how to cut and eat Imo's Pizza on the Jimmy Kimmel Show.
It is even said that Brett Hull decided to stay with the Blues in 1988 over an Imo's Pizza pie.
The most popular pizza chain to come out of St. Louis originated in the Tower Grove area in 1964. Started by Ed & Margie Imo, Ed worked as a tile cutter/setter by the day. On Friday nights, the Imos would wait until 11:30 at night to order pizza (for religious purposes) from restaurants at the Hill neighborhood. Then there was that one night a great idea struck upon the couple: why not have a pizza parlor deliver it to them?
The Imos decided to open a pizza place on Thurman Street, and the rest is history. Their first cash register was a fishing tackle box. Since the store was small, it was not a dine-in, but rather a carry-out/delivery place. Some sources point this to be the first pizza restaurant to do such thing (call-in, carry-out), but there is no real evidence or proof. Nonetheless, they have prospered into one of the most successful restaurants to come out of St. Louis. Imo's became a franchising company in 1985. As of this writing, I do not have the date of when the original location closed.
Imo's is also noted for utilizing a popular St. Louis food: provel cheese. Provel cheese is what gives the pizza its flavor, besides the cracker-like crust. It was first produced in Wisconsin (year unknown) by the Hoffman Cheese Company (now part of Kraft). However, there are many accounts as to who first used it and who gave it its name. Every Imo's franchise uses an average 25,000 pounds of provel a year.
Today, there are 92 Imo's locations (as of this writing), all in the Midwest. They are regularly defined as the originators of 'St. Louis Style Pizza', or at least iconic in that pizza genre. Of course, there are other St. Louis style pizza chains that are competing with them, most notably Cecil Whittaker's. It is also believed they are the first to cut the pizza in squares. Not true, according to Margie Imo (in an interview with Fox 2/KTVI last year): 'It's a St. Louis thing. But no, we were not the first...'
An episode of KETC Channel 9's Living St. Louis that focuses on the craft of St. Louis Style Pizza. Imo's is one of them featured.
UPDATE (8/30/2014): According to posters of the unofficial 'Cakeway to the West' FB group, there have been reports of vandalism on this cake. I've seen the pictures, and it looks like the wick and flame are gone (sad face), and the top is ruined. As of mid-November, the cake has been removed for repairs. It is supposed to make its return soon.
